a VERY memorable weekend

WOW, it has been a crazy busy weekend,

but definitely one to remember!

My brothers and their families came into town

to support my parents as they begin their mission adventure.

So on Saturday we all met in SLC @ the church

history museum. The children's section is

awesome and so much fun for all the kids to explore.

Then we headed to Chuck-e-Cheese for MORE fun.

It was definitely a day for the kids!!

Of course I forgot my camera that day, but thank goodness

my mom and sister in law remembered theirs

(so I will have to steal some from them soon)!

SUnday was our boys' BIG day to turn 6.

The kids always request breakfast in bed,

but when you have a boy who wakes up at 6-6:30

you have make him pretend to go back to sleep

in order to get breakfast IN bed.

He requested Einstein Bagels, but that is a

little hard on Sunday morning, and I had even

meant to go their the evening before, but they closed

before we returned from all our family fun.

So he was happy with donuts mom

picked up the night before.

We had a lazy morning opening and enjoying
presents for our birthday boy, then it was off
to grandma and grandpa's ward.
They gave wonderful-inspiring talks,
and we had a few other surprises as well.
ALthough she had been soo sick, Karli and her family made it, as
well as a surprise from my grandma thurgood and other family members.
Quinn shared his beautiful talent with us all, and sang
Our Savior's Love (SOLO I might add). He tried to convince
Ame and I, and others to sing with him, but we all chicken out!
He did an amazing job, and I am not even biased :)
I just can't express enough how much
I love and admire my parents for
their dedication to the Lord and HIS church.
Despite all that may be missed while they are gone,
they know they are needed and they GO and Do as the
Lord asks of them! They are true examples of LOVE and SERVICE!
As much as we will all miss them remendously,
we are excited to share in another adventure with them.
Definitely a bitter sweet opportunity!

In addition to enjoying a wonderful day with family,
who joined us from near and far,
I got some snuggles with
sweet Avery.
That evening most of us got to join my parents
at their setting apart for their mission.
They even invited the 3 oldest baptized
grandchildren (which included Ame)
to join us for this special opportunity.
It truly was special and a most spiritual memory!

And today, Monday, we had this...

and here HE is...

For some reason the pictures from the first half

of the party got deleted off my camera.

But they began with a archeologic dig for

Indiana Jones Lego pieces, after which they

worked together to put the lego's together.
The kids also had tons of fun with the Mummy wrap.

even Nalu had some fun with the T.P.

Kaipo wanted to be completely mummified

Ame was a GREAT help with the party

and loved taking charge, especially with the treasure hunt.

She wrote all the clues and

kept all the boys in line.

treasures included bugs/snakes, prizes and treats of all kinds.

We had a creepy things taste test, including:

monkey brains (cold pasta), eyeball soup (grapes in water),

beetles (chocolate raisins), sour worms, snake guts (jello).
Unfortunately that was at the beginning and I have no pictures.

But this was the SAND cake Kaipo requested-

We had a fun bunch of kids.

We were sad that some of our friends couldn't make

it, but were grateful for the friends and cousins who did,

and I think they enjoyed their ADVENTURE!

As much fun as this party was, boy it a lot of work for

this busy mom. After working Thursday and Friday,

then having all the family fun Saturday AND Sunday,

I was left with little prep time.

But Kaipo said it was THE BEST DAY,

so it was definitely worth a few late nights!!

We Love You Kaipolani and hope it really was

a Grand Day for you. You are our ONE OF A KIND

boy and we can't imagine life without YOU.

********************

We feel soo blessed with our own SWEET family

and all of our extended family...mom's, dad's, brother's,

sister's, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, dear friends, etc.

A little of this and a little of that...means its been too long!

Life just never seems to slow down, let alone provide

a few moments to blog. SO this post contains a lot of

randomness of what is keeping us busy...

LOTS of LOVE and playing

a little crafting
a LOT of EATING

friends and Joyschool

LOTS of time in the car and SOME smiles

mom and daughter haircuts-

no that is NOT mom, she was on the other side

of the room getting some serious chopping done.

For some reason NO pics?

and the MOST exciting event...

the birth of this beautiful little

(well not soo little really @ 8lbs.8oz) girl
*AVERY RYENNE*

she already know who her FAVORITE aunt is (haha)

Life is exciting, busy and mostly happy.

Lots to be thankful for!

Ame's first post

This is me,Ame.

On Friday I went to my friend,Irelyn's birthday party.

She had a beach party.

We had hawian hay stacks & drank lemonaid.

Her mom Krislyn made grape ice cubes.

It made the drink taste like grape lemonaid.

YUM!

We played this game where Krislyn made a tray of objects, then she

would take away an

object(They were things that you use at the beach)

and we woud write down wich one we thought

she took off. We also played limbo.

Irelyn's mom made a sand cake for her birthday.

(She realy just put gram crackers,vanilla wafers,cool whip

& pudding)She scooped it out with a shovel.

Then we opened her presents.

We also made candy leis.

After we watched Jonny Lingo.

Then it was time to go.

I had sooo much fun!

I got these fake nails for christmas. My mom finally helped me put them on the other night. But I ended up taking them off right after because I realized they would bug me too much at school and I wouldn't even be able to wear gloves. They were really cute, and I was sad I took them off. I will have to try them again when it is warm and I don't have to worry about putting gloves on!

Birthday Celebrations

We gave daddy some gifts-homemade cards, a candy lei,

and a few other things in the morning before church.

As well as had some donuts to celebrate.

Later in the day we headed south to spend some
time with HIS family. We had a combined
January Birthday Party, since there are four
in the family to be celebrated.
We ate, and played

had cake and cupcakes

and were thoroughly entertained
by these 2. They LOVED the sliding
glass door, followed each other around,

and are just soo darn cute together!!

All in all, it was a pretty mellow day, but

hopefully Quinn felt LOTS of LOVE,

relaxation, and was well fed!

Quinn is a wonderful man, friend,

husband and father.

He is always thinking of the best interest

of his family and others.

We LOVE you soo much honey and

hope you felt extra SPECIAL on YOUR day!!
(oops forgot about this last picture of Kaipo)

Someone is having a birthday???

I pulled off a last minute surprise dinner for Quinn

@ Rooster's, with some of our neighborhood friends.

We had such a fun night just talking and hangin' out.

That 2+ hours went by WAY TOO FAST!

We don't get to enjoy this kind of opportunity often enough!!

(I hope it was a great start to his birthday celebration)

Winter Entertainment

Since the kids got a tramp for Christmas,

what else do we do with it for the next several months...

so we set it up in the basement.

Yes Ame and Kaipo have to watch their

heads a bit, but our ceilings are 9ft. down there so they have

a little room to jump and entertain themselves.

Nalu even got in on the action...

FiNaLlY

January 7, 2011

was the official day that Nalu took his first real steps. He was 14 months just a few days ago. Nalu has been walking along the kitchen table bench, couches and anything that would give him just the slightest bit of support, for quite some time now. We just knew anyday now he would take his first steps. Quinn swears he has been the one to teach all the kids to walk, but I don't agree with him on that one. Ame for sure because I was working at the time, but the others are a bit of a blur. Of course Nalu still crawls most of the time, but with encouragement (and some reminding) he is walking more and more. Hurray (I think), he is FiNaLlY doing it!!

(hopefully we will get some better video because the ones we took last night are awfully dark)

Also, he has gotten his teeth really randomly and in a strange order. He has had 4 teeth on top and 4 on bottom for quite a while now. I just noticed this past week that we has a molar already in. NO eye teeth, so just a big space and then this molar in the back. Interesting!! But he is just soo darn cute, who cares what craziness is going on in his mouth. They will all come in eventually, right!? And it won't matter in what order or how weird it may have looked for a time!

playin' a little hookey

Our Joyschool group planned a fieldtrip to

Discovery Gateway

today, and because we got such a great discount with our

group I let Ame and Kaipo play hookey from

school and come along with us!

We have never been there,

and we were all thoroughly impressed!

There was soo many fun, creative

things to do. It was well worth the

drive downtown, and missing a little school.

These balls provide some great fun

through tunnels, shoots and all sorts of mazes.

It was hard to get a clear picture out of

these excited, energetic, active kids.

Kaipo playing some music

there was this life size horse
that I found Ame riding SEVERAL times!
She definitely has a LOVE for horses.
I hope one day she can take some riding lessons.

thank goodness the horse was well fed by Kaipo.

I caught them for a second, and forced a picture.

these pipes were really cool too.

they could be arranged and rearranged, forming

tunnels and paths for more ball fun.

outside there was a REAL helicopter for the

kids to sit in and pretend to fly, although we did

NOT spend much time there because it was just sooo

darn cold outdoors!

Ash with some of his Joyschool buddies.

We had a grand time, but the fun had to come to an end

so I could get Ame back to school in the afternoon.
Definitely a place we would love to visit again!

Christmas with the Hanamaikai Ohana

Our Christmas Eve Celebrations began

with the short Luke 2 video, after which

the kids ACTED out the nativity as Dad

read it aloud.

We knew Nalu wouldn't ACT the

part of baby Jesus, so we opted to

have a doll instead and let him be a

Wiseman, and a cute one at that!!

(those India costumes continue to come in handy)

Ame took her MARY roll VERY serious!

After the play, we did our LOVE STOCKINGS,
(an Asplund tradition that WE have continued)
in which we write a special note to each member
of the family. Then the kids watched
Mr. Krueger's Christmas while mom
made homemade eggnog and set out the
NON-homemade cookies (no time, energy OR
desire to make cookies this year, plus I am just
NOT very good at making sugar cookies).

Ame wrote this cute note for Santa,
to leave with his cookies and milk.

The kids opened their new jammies

and got ready for bed.

Then the last thing before hitting the hay

was to spread some REINDEER food.

A Christmas Story in bed and

then it was LIGHTS OUT.

Surprisingly they all went to bed

with not too much of a challenge,

thank goodness cuz there were last minute

preparations to be made!?!

Bright and early the kids were up-

6AM, but mom said no presents

until at least 6:30.

Then the gift giving began.......

Ame got the neatest gift from

GRandma Frankie. It was this

pretend butterfly in a glass jar, and I am not

even sure how it works (some sort of

magnetism). But it flutters, flies and

looks just like a real one.

REALLY COOL!

Quinn and I loved our homemade

gifts the kids made at school, they were

the best by far (although I am very much looking

forward to using the

massage gift certificate Quinn got me).

One of the many unexpected gifts

(we may attempt to set it up in the basement

or the garage for the winter)

the kids did get some COAL

in their stockings (thank goodness it

was only bubble gum)

grandma and grandpa joined us for breakfast

well after all the presents and craziness

were over! But they did bring some of their

own Holiday cheer, with a cute book

which they had recorded their voices reading

Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Grandpa Kimo also gave us a recorded

book of him singing Frosty the Snowman.

Wonderful treasures to have for years to come!

I think the kids wore grandpa and grandma

out just telling about and showing all they got!

But we were sooo thankful to have them

here this Christmas, and already know

we will be missing them next year!!

This awesome gift was inherited

from Jason and LeAnne when they moved.

It is awesome and Nalu is already

LOVING it!!

Ame's SANTA gift was

Biscuit

the interactive dog.
She was dying to have it!
She knows this is the closest

she will get to the real thing for

a LONG time. But seeing her

interact and play with this

thing does make me feel a little

bad she doesn't have a real dog

(but NOT bad enough to get her one)!

Kaipo got his #2 choice

Motor Skooter
#1 was a DS, but mom just wasn't

down with that one, and glad Santa decided

against it as well, since Kaipo is already

addicted to the Wii, I-phone, computer.

He just doesn't need anything else electronic

to waste time with!

Getting the skooter worked out perfectly

since his push skooter broke just a few weeks ago.
Since it was SNOWING outside he

was trying the NEW one out in the basement...

as was Ash and his new basketball hoop.

The hoop will stay here all winter

and bring him (and the others) hours

of exercise and entertainment. We

will have quite the players come summer time!!

And there you have it...

a peek at Christmas with the Hanamaikai's.

We did join my parents and sister (and her family)

for a WONDERFUL dinner, dessert and more

presents later in the evening.

My parents also shared a beautiful short video

of Christ that I had never seen before,

but definitely want to find (they got it from

neighbors as a gift). It was the perfect

ending to our CHRISTmas day!!

We definitely had a grand day and are very thankful

for the generosity of our families. They

truly made this a WONDERFUL Christmas

for our little family. Not just for the gifts (and money)

but for the love and memories made!!

And most of all we are grateful for this Season

we have been able to reflect on and grow closer

to our loving Savior. We really tried to help our

children focus on HIM this CHRISTmas!
WE are truly blessed to know of HIM and feel of HIS love.

Happy New Year to all!
Hope YOU have found the same happiness this Season.